Christmas Illuminations at Mount Vernon

Last week my husband and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary :) Since our anniversary is so close to Christmas, and because we’re trying to save up money right now to find a new apartment next year, we decided to take advantage of the closeness of Washington, D.C. to celebrate. One of my favorite attractions in the area is George Washington’s Mount Vernon, and my husband had never been before, so when we saw that they were holding a Christmas event there last weekend, we quickly reserved some tickets and bundled ourselves up for the colonial festivities :) (no, seriously, we were freezing!)

The estate offered a lovely variety of 18th century holiday festivities including caroling, chocolate making, silhouetted portrait demonstrations, live colonial-style music (featuring a hurdy gurdy!), blacksmith reconstructions, and 18th century dancing (my favorite!). The evening was topped off with a Christmas-time reenactment and a little fireworks show from George Washington’s backyard.

Unfortunately, it was really dark outside, so my pictures didn’t turn out as great as I hoped they would, but I’m still going to share them here :)

Making old-fashioned hot chocolate.

Colonial music, featuring a hurdy gurdy.

The blacksmith hammering out a J-Hook.

Super blurry, but you get the idea :) It was really fun watching the people closest to us dance–they messed up quite a few times but still had fun (which is reassuring because I know I’d forget half the dance steps, too!).

Next year we plan to go back with the rest of the family. And I’ll be sure to give the 18th century dancing a try, too! ;)

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I hope you all enjoy some quality time with your families to ring in the New Year :)

I’m sure it’s just for special occasions, but now I know to check their website for that when we’re pondering our next jaunt there. Or I could ask some friends of ours who live right near there and have yearly passes because they enjoy MV so much.

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About Me:

I'm Maggie: twenty-something; kindred spirit; married to a Frenchman; maman to a Little Baby French Fry and a fluffy Australian Shepherd. I devour books & spend my free time day-dreaming about geeky things. "Macarons & Paperbacks", formerly "An American in France," is my biggest hobby at the moment. Here I blog about books, baking, and my love of France.